Vitaly Churkin

Vitaly Churkin (21 February 1952-20 February 2017) was the Russian ambassador to the United Nations from 1 May 2006 to 20 February 2017, succeeding Andrey Denisov and preceding Vasily Nebenzya.

Biography
Vitaly Churkin was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in 1952, and he was a child actor before working in international relations during the 1970s. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister from 1992 to 1994, as ambassador to Belgium from 1994 to 1998, ambassador to Canada from 1998 to 2003, Ambassador-at-Large for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2006, and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 2006. He died in New York City in 2017 from heart failure.